Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy! December has arrived!! I'm so not ready! My Christmas cards are not even close to being done! But thanks to Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra, I do have a very good start on them. All that as a shameless promotion of CHNCC2's newest challenge that start today! As always, it is Anything (Christmas-related) Goes! And our sponsor, Bugaboo Stamps is offering 7 images: winner's choice. Here is my card for your inspiration:

I was inspired by the Shopping Our Stash challenge to create a background using the Bargello Technique. I've never given this a try before and as I knew I had a bunch of thin paper strips that needed using up, I decided to go for it. It's hard to see it in the picture of the finished card, so I took a picture before I added the focal panel and embellishments.

Kind of a fun look, huh? I think it might have worked a little bit better if my papers hadn't had white backgrounds. Maybe next time. But for now, hop on over to the CHNCC2 blog to see what the rest of the DT has created. Then get inky and play along with us; it's time to finish up those Christmas cards!

Wow!! Here it is, the last day of November! Where has this year gone!?!? I'm so not ready for December! Since it is the 5th Wednesday of November, we have a special challenge this week from The House That Stamps Built: Anything Goes!! I decided to create a fun, interactive card because I had this fun Swing Stamp Set that I hadn't gotten to use yet. So, here is the outside:

The sentiment reads "It's time to put on some Christmas cheer. May your holidays . . ."
Then, instead of opening like a regular card, you pull up the tab to reveal . . .

"be warm and wonderful" and the snowman has put on his hat and scarf! Isn't this so cute?? I added clear wink of stella to the "snow" around each snowman. So sparkly!!

I used this tutorial, if you want to check it out and see how it works. I hope you will get a chance to play along with us amid the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season that is now upon us.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

I had this rectangle left over from this card I made and when I saw it just lying on my desk, I thought it looked like a tag. I rounded the corners, added the banner sentiment and set an eyelet to tie it on, and now it IS a tag! Super quick and easy and I think it will look great on a package.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Happy day before Thanksgiving!! It's Wednesday so that means it's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built. This week we have a sketch challenge for you:

So many fun options with that one! Here is the card I created:

I inked up my embossing folder with a gold shimmery ink before embossing my red cardstock. It gave a subtle but shimmery finish on the debossed parts. You can kind of see it in the photo below.

I love this color combo; it's always so elegant and it's perfect for Christmas! I hope you will get a chance to play along with us this week. I can't wait to see what you come up with. And remember, if you "need" any of the stamps I used, there is a 10% off your entire order coupon in my left sidebar.

I have two projects for you today. The first one is using a Julia Spiri Digital Stamps image: April Elf

Isn't she a beauty?! I think she is probably supposed to be a spring elf, but since this is autumn, I turned her into an autumn elf and I think it works perfectly! I created my own background paper with mums, leaves, acorns, a script stamp and a small flower center stamp. Then I inked up the edges and distressed them with my scissors. Love how it turned out! Here is a close up of the image:

I added some strands of clear wink of stella to her hair and onto the darker green trims on her dress. You can see it a bit in the photo.
My second project uses an image from Bugaboo Stamps. Their images are always so adorable!

I was able to use up some scraps on this one finally! The striped paper is part of a paper pack that I have been trying to use up for quite a while. It's been sitting on my desk for at least a year now and there are only a few small pieces left. Unfortunately, there are still a few scraps of it left. I even added a few more snowflakes on the inside but couldn't quite use it all up.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Happy Friday!! It's time for another challenge from Jo's Scrap Shack. This week we have a color challenge for you. You must use, yellow, green and brown on your project.

Our sponsor is Robyn's Fetish.

I was given this beautiful image to work with and at first the color combo had me completely at a loss since this is obviously a Christmas image and the colors are not Christmas-y. But then I remembered that I had bought this beautiful window die about two months ago and hadn't used it yet. And then an idea was hatched! So I stamped my brown cardstock with a woodgrain stamp and used the die to cut out the window. I traced the inside of the window on my card base and then masked off the lines and sponged it with yellow ink to look like the soft glow from a candle. And my green comes in with the holy leaves. I used my scor-pal to score every half inch across my card base and then sponged some antique linen distress ink along the grooves to make it look like siding.

I hope you will get a chance to play along with us this week. These colors are perfect for a Fall or Thanksgiving card, though as you can see, they are not limited to those occasions. Hop on over to Jo's blog for the full details and to see what the rest of the team has done with this challenge.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Isn't that little scarecrow adorable!? So cute! I was going to use that as my inspiration starting point, but after seeing the rest of the cards from the DT, I decided to go in a different direction to give you more ideas on how to be inspired by this photo. 'Cause I'm like that (and maybe 'cause I'm always the last one to finish up my cards). Anyway, I really love the planks on the wall, and the pumpkins (I LOVE pumpkins) and the placement of the sentiment, so here is my card:

I started out by scoring my cream layer every half inch with my scor-pal. Then to age it a bit, I swiped Antique Linen distress ink along the grooves. I stamped my pumpkins with creamy caramel ink as I thought black would be too harsh for this card, and I LOVE how it turned into no-line coloring. It was completely unplanned but came out fabulous! I fussy cut them out and adhered them to the background. Stamped the sentiment on one of the planks to mimic the sentiment in the photo and tied a bow with some seam binding. My card base looks black, but it really is a yummy chocolate brown, so the colors are soooo fall. I hope you will get a chance to play along with us this week. I know photo challenges tend to be hard, but remember that you can be inspired by ANYTHING in the photo! Now, head on over to The House blog for more inspiration; I KNOW you will not be disappointed.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Last week I shared the birthday card I made for my middle child. I have twins, so the middle and the youngest both have the same birthday. This is the card I made for the youngest, who's favorite color is green. It's similar to the card for the other, but different just as the twins are similar but really quite different.

They were both so excited to open their cards as they love these cute little dragons as much as I do. Here is a close up of the little cutie:

I added some clear wink of stella to the wings because, obviously, dragons have sparkly wings. : ) Thanks for stopping by.

I decided to create a card with a fun twist on a gatefold. I folded the pink layer top and bottom and then trimmed the flaps into triangles. Then adhered the snowflake element on top. It opens up as you see in the photo below:

I'll have to get a little creative with the writing/greeting on the inside so it doesn't show through when the card is closed, but it's a fun fold, so I think it's worth it. I hope you get a chance to play along with us this month, there is still plenty of time left. Hop on over to the CHNCC2 blog for the full details and to see the inspiration from the rest of the DT.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Welcome to another challenge from The House That Stamps Built. This week is a Designer's Choice and Cheri chose "Being Thankful". A perfect challenge for this time of the year, right?

I saw a tutorial for creating the Bokeh technique and decided to give it a try. I LOVE how this turned out. I changed it up a bit by first stamping the maple leaf in SU!'s Creamy Caramel before I did the sponging. It really builds the leaves right into the background. The colors I used for the sponging are green (new leaf from PTI), yellow (lemon tart from PTI) and orange (orange zest from PTI), I finished it off with some antique linen distress ink around the edges and to soften the orange a bit.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

I've got some birthdays coming up this weekend, so I need two birthday cards. This one is for my middle child. All my kids think this Magical Dragons set from MFT is the cutest thing, so of course, I had to use it for their birthday cards. The favorite color is blue, so here it is:

I stamped the dragon first, and then masked it so I could sponge the clouds using a scalloped oval as a second mask. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the wings for some sparkle. You can see it better in this next picture.

Back in September I made this birthday card for my Brother-in-Law using this "Holy Crap" set from Repeat Impressions. He loved it so much (still has it pinned on his bulletin board at work) that he asked me to make one for his brother using the same set. So, here it is:

His brother's favorite color is blue, so I went with that as my starting point. The dark blue paper has a really great shine a texture to it that added just enough interest so I didn't have to add any embellishments really. Here is the inside of the card:

And a picture of the shaker element in action. The brown sequins were considered the "must have". : )

I was given this adorable set of images from All Dressed Up Stamps. Their images are always so cute and I love these adorable, fashionable little ladies.

I decided to create a pocket fold card with a pull out tag.

So, I put two of the girls from the set on the outside and the third was hiding inside on the tag for a fun little surprise.

I used this sweet sentiment from Verve "You are one of my nicest thoughts." Combined with the cute little "friend" tag, this will be perfect to send to a friend.
And here are the three little cuties all together:

I hope you will take time to play along with us. Don't let the fancy folds scare you, it's really quite fun and there are so many options you can use. Hop on over to the LTSCB blog for the full details and to see the rest of the projects from the DT.

Friday, November 4, 2016

Hello, everyone, welcome to November and welcome to another challenge from Jo's Scrap Shack. These week is a fan favorite: Anything Goes!!

Our Sponsors this week are The Cutting Cafe and A Day For Daisies. I was given this beautiful sleigh cutting file from The Cutting Cafe to work with. The file comes with so many different layers and pieces that you could make this sleigh as simple or as fancy as you would like. And it comes with a PDF file and an SVG file. Since I don't have an electronic cutter, this one was definitely a labor of love from me to you! I had to cut everything out by hand!! It took forever, but I do think the end result was worth it!

I started out printing all the layers until plain copy paper so I didn't waste any cardstock and I could transfer the different pieces to the color cardstock I was going to use. Then I started with a white cardstock base, cut the the runners and the decorate swirl at the back out of black cardstock, the sleigh body out of red that I first embossed with a damask embossing folder, the top trim out of black and finally the white portion between the runner and the body is a separate layer. Then I adhered them all together sort of like a puzzle. Included in the files are pieces in both orientations, so you can decorate both the front and back sides of the sleigh. Also included in the file is a set of tags. I chose to use the Merry Christmas tag and layered it onto red cardstock before tying it on with a bow to my treat bag. I had the tag all colored and was adding it to the treat bag when I realized I had smeared the center part (which I had colored with a gold paint pen) all over the flower. Arggghhh. So I printed out a second and was going to make the whole tag over again when I realized I could just color and cut out part of the flower and create a really beautiful dimensional poinsettia. This time I added a pearl instead of bothering with that paint pen!!

I apologize for my recent haphazard posts and my lack of being around; last week my cat managed to fry the mother board of my computer and I had to get a new one. Didn't get it until Wednesday and had to be out of town all day Thursday for a funeral. So, I'm back and am figuring out how to work everything on the new computer. Hopefully, that will happen soon and I plan to get caught up with commenting and actually getting posts posted on time within the next day or two! Meanwhile, I hope you will hop over to Jo's blog for the full details and to see what the rest of the DT has created. A few of our new members are joining us for this challenge so you will have lots of eye candy to look at.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late and I'm soooo sorry! I had computer issues this week and I HATE trying to blog and type on my ipad! So, welcome to this week's challenge from The House That Stamps Built. This week it is a color combo:

I took the gold literally and used metallic gold paper and gold embossing powder.

I started by inking the stripes in a chocolate brown and a stencil. I stamped the leaves in versamark and embossed them with gold embossing powder, then colored them in with an orange marker. I stamped the "thanks" with the chocolate brown and then the "many" with gold embossing powder. I added a mat of gold paper behind the sentiment and a tiny strip along the striped edge. In this photo you can see the shine of the gold and the shimmer of the embossing.

I hope you will get a chance to play along with us. This color combo is perfect for fall/thanksgiving cards, but you could use them for so many other things. Hop on over to The House blog to see what the rest of the team created; there are some gorgeous creations over there.

Sorry to all affected that this post is a bit overdue. I had some computer issues and wasn't able to get my photo uploaded until today. So, I'm a little late, but welcome to a new challenge from Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra. As always, we are a month-long anything (Christmas-related) goes challenge.

This is my absolute favorite image from Bugaboo, unfortunately it seems to be retired. So sad. I hope you will get a chance to play along with us this month. It's getting quite close to Christmas, so if you haven't started on your Christmas cards, this is a good excuse to get started.